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And The New Thing To Buy On The Playa Is…

FUEL! We’ve been calling for it to be opened up to the general population, and now it has – somewhat. Black Rock City has a gas station for Mutant Vehicles, and a fuel delivery service for generators. Now Theme Camps and Art Cars can refuel to their heart’s content (as long as they get there in time, they’re not open 24/7). There are 2 different vendors (and maybe even more in the future).

Before you rush to the comments to tell us “this is nothing new”, yes yes, we know, despite official claims that “the only thing we sell is ice and coffee”, it has been possible to buy gas and other stuff at Burning Man in the past. Now it’s out in the open, and seems pretty accessible. You can’t get gas for your car, RV, or tax-free motorbike, but at least the sound systems get to keep thumping and the Art Cars get to keep on conveying.

If you want to be radically self-reliant, you still can…up to a point. There is a Nevada state limit of 1000 lbs of fuel that can be transported per vehicle, including container weight, which according to BMOrg works out to about 2 x 55 gallon drums.

We recommend calling in advance to pre-arrange delivery to your camp. The gas station is only open 3 hours a day, don’t be surprised if there’s a line…

Sierra Fuels and Haymaker are two of our approved fuel vendors this year. Theme Camps may contact one of these vendors pre-Playa to make arrangements for their fueling needs on Playa. Although fuel prices do fluctuate frequently, these vendors have agreed to lock in a price range for you when you make your arrangements. Black Rock City is working closely to ensure pricing is fair and reasonable. If you are not quoted a price when you make your arrangements, please ask for one.

These vendors are the only Black Rock City-approved vendors … others are not prohibited, but should refer to the Fuel Vendor Guidelines found here.

A few things to keep in mind:

Your generator should be large enough to run up to 30 hours in between fills.

Camps must keep a clear path to the generator(s).

The fill pipe accessible area should be no more than 150ft from the access road.

That area also needs to be clear of sources of ignition or open flames.

Although arrangements can be made on Playa if you decide you have fuel needs, vendors cannot always guarantee the ability to meet your needs if no previous conversations have been held. Please don’t wait … make your arrangements today!

Haymaker will be operating a Mutant Vehicle fueling station on Playa, August 23 through August 31, on the outskirts of the camping area near 10:00 and L. Each day the fuel station will be open from 3pm to 6pm. Any vehicles with a “Night Time ONLY” Permit should use the city streets and travel along L to the fuel station. This option can be used for other generators ON BOARD and used for Mutant Vehicle purposes (i.e. light, sound, etc.).

Mutant Vehicle Owners interested in participating in this opportunity should email Haymaker at info@haymaker.com. Once contact has been established and you have a plan, you will need to call 804-647-6132 to set up a payment plan.

When making reservations, you will need to provide:

A contact name, email address and phone number

Camp name

Camp location

Type of fuel

Type and size of vehicle or equipment to be fueled

On site, Vendors will operate as best they can in line with the arrangements they have made with you. Please remember, it is Burning Man and unexpected situations like weather delays, equipment failures and road closures may arise.

Please note BRC cannot be held responsible for the performance of external vendors.

Messages for the fuel vendor can be left with a fuel team representative at the “Fuel Funnel”, located at Playa Info at 1:00 Inner Center Camp. The “Fuel Funnel” hours are 1pm-3pm, August 24 through August 30, and messages will be relayed to the fuel vendor daily. Pre-event, messages can be relayed to the fuel vendors through Playa Info.

There is a 25 gallon minimum fill. If you wish to obtain fuel and store it for later use you must have 4-5, 5 gallon gas/diesel jugs that are CARB and EPA certified.

NOTE: This opportunity is for Mutant Vehicles and Theme Camp generators only. This is not to be used for personal vehicles or other equipment.

Will there be even more vending to come in the future? Time will tell…

I have been asking for something like this for over 10 YEARS! In 2001, I had my first theme camp (The Starlite Drive-in Movie Theater) on the esplanade and found out from the big dance camp next door they kept their RVs and generators going by renting a fueler truck with in/out passes to bring in 50 gallons each of diesel and regular gas to fill their needs. The next year I mounted the Drive-in on a larger scale out at 10:00 and Abyss (then the very back corner of the city) and had a generator that required 5 gallons of gas to run 12 hours, enough to keep showing movies from dusk till dawn. As I was attempting to program films for 7 days, I needed 35 gallons of fuel minima to keep the show going. The whole operation was run by just me and my girlfriend at the time (but basically, just me) and everything I needed had to packed into one Penske box truck. Needless to say, there was not enough room in the vehicle to add seven 5 gallon containers of highly flammable liquid on top of all the gear in the completely packed volume of the truck box. I solved the problem by bringing one of those kiddie pools shaped like a turtle and putting all the gas cans init on top of the truck cab and strapping them down under the pool shell top. A very elegant solution to the problem, I thought, despite the unsettling idea of driving from Reno to the playa with a potential fire bomb directly over my head. Still, I could only manage to fit 5 plastic cans into the turtle pool and as the week went on I was forced to siphon gas from the truck and even resorted to siphoning off a few gallons from an RV in an early fortress compound of yahoos nearby. I hated doing that, but I was really desperate. Then, in one of my earliest instances of the slogan “the playa provides,” who should show up but the one and only Danger Ranger in his convertible. He stepped out and said “I heard the Drive-in needed gas. I want to see more movies” and dropped 2 five gallon cans with me and departed. I saw him after the burn at a flambé lounge party at the Crucible in SF and gave him a VHS copy of some old school music videos I had been showing that I liked and just last year made my annual pilgrimage to the Outpost at 4:20 to pay my respects and gift him back 2 five gallon cans. He was grateful, but declined the gas and asked if he could just have the empty containers. This man is one of my Burning Man heroes and I have told this story so many times to newbies and veterans alike as an example of why Burning Man is so special. So here we are a dozen years later and the BMORG has just begun to address this problem. It’s great they are now making an attempt to help out the big theme camps and over the top art cars, but that still leaves smaller camps and individuals bringing their own fuel for generators and many of them in a completely half-asses manner as a cursory inspection of their power plants will reveal. Are any of these people aware that the improper storage of fuel on the playa will land you in Federal Court if the BLM finds you in violation of their rules? Black Rock City NEEDS A FUCKING CENTRALIZED FUEL DISTRIBUTION CENTER for the ENTIRE POPULATION before some nit-wit ass clown has an accident transporting or storing gasoline that ruins it for everyone. No more “Half-Measures” (“Breaking Bad” reference intended) Larry et-al. You are playing with fire not dealing with this issue properly. and I’m not talking about spinning lit poi. DEAL WITH THIS SHIT now. You are on notice from Admiralllll

Just wanted to poke my head in here, on behalf of Haymaker, and clarify a couple things:

— We’ll be the only fuel supplier with our tanks and employees on playa, so our response time to emergencies or fueling requests should be quick. Don’t hesitate to stop by Playa Info to ask for help.
— Haymaker specializes in fueling logistics for events. We have a long track record of keeping tanks full at major events, like the 2014 Super Bowl, both of the Obama inaugurations, Bonnaroo, and Lollopalooza, among others.

We’ve got you covered. Especially if you get ahold of us early to let us know how much fuel you might need.

Hello Haymaker – I tried to email at the address above – it got bounced back – I just tried to call your number above and the call does not go through ? Would like to make arrangement for fuel for our mutant vehicle .. Please call me at 805 617 9367 Jon

Hey, Jon. We’ve got you covered. I’m passing your phone number along to our billing coordinator right now, and she’ll follow up with you ASAP.

As for the email address, did you send it to info@haymaker.net or info@haymaker.com? The original post contains an error; the former is the correct email address while the latter is incorrect. I’ll see if I can get the author to correct that information. Sorry about the hassle!

It just keeps getting better and better. I remember when we brought our art cars out there, planning the fuel was part of the enjoyment of the process; to be self-reliant. It was a challenge to bring enough fuel to keep things going, and it also helped us prioritize what was important.